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Charles Lindbergh — Part 10
Page 38
38 / 63
What quantities of shot and shell would be
required it is difficult to say, but the amount would
be staggering. After Hitler’s army got here, it
Frould have to keep open behind e line it supply
ts capal
fr main supply ba:
continuous flow of provisions, fu am
* replacements of arms and equipment,
The problem of transporting this vast army and
the mountains of equipment and continuous sup-
plies it would require is utterly beyond the power
of any country,
First, the men must be sent over in ships. And
these ships must be convoyed. They cannot be
sent across the ocean in little vessels. Ships of less
than 2,000 tons would, of course, be completely
useless,
le
Of course to send a million men over at one
time td be out of the quest:
time id be out of the quest
Mr. Hanson Baldwin, the military expert of the
New York Times, says:
“The world's tonnage facilities are such that a0
power or combination of powers could possibly trens-
port more than 300,000 men in a month. An initial
expeditionary force of about 30,000 would be the
maximum practical number that could be brought
against us, if the size of convoy, aumber of ships
and planes needed for protection and the like are
considered.”
In the World War we
fF » But we had, ard
Ayres, who wrote the official report on this great
enterprise, the ships of twelve different countries—
American, British, French, Italian, etc.—and the
convoys of the American and British and French
navies. The Germans were without a fieet. We
landed these men on a friendly shore where they
army of engineers and mechanics ahead of them
to build ports and docks to unload the equipment.
‘Let us suppose that Germany has defeated Eng-
land and taken the British navy. She now decides
to send her army to America, Major George
Fie! ary ex} of the pro-war
Field: litary expert of the pro-wer
New Tribune, says:
nt two million men to
3
gz to Col. Leonard
3
fork Hera!
“Troops cannot be transported overseas in any
number save when naval command of the waters
‘over which they pass has been previously sssured,
since a troop convoy is a large, slow and vuloerable
target and will surely suffer heavily if its escort be
attacked by anything like an equal force.
In the circumstances we have assumed that
Germany, even with the British fleet, would not
have complete command of the seas. For there
would remain the American navy. And that navy
would have to be wiped out before the German
navy would command the seas on this side of the
ocean, Two things must be remembered. First,
at the end of this war the American navy would
be larger than the German navy and the British
navy combined. Second, the German government
would have to do its naval fighting on this side
7 c7 warfare that @
lose: tage of its effective-
ness every 100 miles it gets from its own base.
Great battleships have to fuel up frequently and
must be accompanied by immense auxiliary ships.
od
ow
Three thousand miles away from their own coasts
this navy would be utterly helpless against a navy
which is merely its equal in numbers, but which
would be three times its strength in effective fighting
power. There is not a naval authority who believes
that the German government would attempt a
mass naval battle in our waters against our naval
strength.
If a flotilla of 30 or 40 ships with 50,000 men,
convoyed by a larger number of warships and
all their equipment attempted to land here, it could
not sn in on vk night,
would herald its approach days in advance. When
it got here it could not empty its cargo on an
‘open beach. ‘ich means the flotilla would have
to come into one of our harbors, all of which are
rotected by artillery and would be sown with mines,
Major Eliot makes this clear, He says:
“Large armies, accompanied as modern armies must
be by attillery of various calibres, tanks and other
heavy equipment, as well as vast quantities of muni-
tions and supplies, cannot usually be landed on an
open beach; but must first obtain possession of a
secure harbor with the necessary piers, cranes
Even the planes used by this invading force must
be transported to this country by ships. Mr.
Baldwin says:
“Today planes must be transported by sea to the
Western Hemisphere; the air armies of Europe and
Asia are not yet to bridge the Atlantic and
Pacific under their own power. {Isolated planes cao
do it but not mass bombing formations.”
There are planes that have flown across the
Atlantic, but they must find a friendly landing here.
They cannot come here as hostile craft and be
ed pi fields. It is
sible to build bombers that could come here and
land a few bombs but this would have no military
effect at all.
For every man transported here there must be
at least seven and a half tons of shipping. An
attacking force of 1 750,000
tons. An average of 5,000 tons would
vessela convoyed by a flotilla of naval vessels made
up of seven battleships, several aircraft carriers,
seven light cruisers, a couple of mine-layers and
at least seventy destroyers, Imagine this immense
armada, moving slowly over th.
8,000 mi i ir base
and at the mercy of our navy and our air force,
and compelled to make a landing at a port protected
by heavy guns and mine-sown seas.
By the time a million men were landed, if that
is conceivable, the attacking government would
Tequire 13,000,000 tons of shipping plying back
and forth from the other side of the Atlantic to
ports here to keep this great army supplied with
provisions, fuel and ammunition. This would mean
the arrival and departure of at least eighty ships
a day and all at hostile ports and through hostile
seas. The whole idea is so fantastic that no serious
mind will entertain it for a moment. And, 25
& matter of fact, there is no military authority in
this country who believes that an invasion of
America by Germany with or without the British
feet is possible.
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